Klarion's Revenge
by Ash9
Summary: "I hate them, Teekl. Really. I do," Klarion said, pouting. The large cat curled up next to him and purred. "No, that's not going to help this time. I need revenge. Revenge, or I can't even call myself a proper Lord of Chaos." Now COMPLETE.
1. Chapter 1

_Prologue_

Klarion the Witch Boy was bored and angry, which was never a good combination. It had been months since his last time on Earth and he still fumed over how the Justice brats had shut down the Light's attempt to take over the planet. It should have been wonderful. But instead of being served as a Lord of Earth and terrorizing people and razing cities to the ground and fun stuff like that, he was bored out of his mind.

"I hate them, Teekl. Really. I do," Klarion said, pouting. The large cat curled up next to him and purred. "No, that's not going to help this time. I need revenge. Revenge, or I can't even call myself a proper Lord of Chaos. What could I do to them? Hm... there was that boy who loves water so much. What was his name? We could seal him in a huge goldfish bowl and triple the sunlight. Fry him? No. He's too boring. He'd just die nobly or something stupid like that. What about that fast boy? We could slow him down! Tie weights to his ankles, watch him try to run! Yes, let's do that."

Klarion giggled at the mental image. "But that's not _enough!_ I need to cause them pain." Teekl rubbed against him, arching his back. "Yes, yes, I remember him. That little one. People always love the little ones. And he's human, right? Batman's protégé. It really was all his fault anyway. No one else could have taken down Batman and Superman without him. And that laugh! I hate his laugh! I'll make him silent first off! And then what...what shall we do to him, Teekl?...What's that? A spell?"

Teekl looked deep into his master's eyes.

"You mean that old one? Oooooooo...I love it!"

Chapter 1

Robin breathed in and out deeply, settling into his meditation breathing. The night air was cold and quiet around him, broken occasionally by the sound of the animals calling out to the full moon...and by the sound of an impatient speedster pacing on the roof, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth and back and-

" _Wally!"_ Robin said through the mindlink.

" _What?"_

" _Pacing. Again."_

" _Oh. Sorry. It's just that nothing has happened for hours-"  
_ " _I know. Just try to remember that we want missions and this one is_ _ **covert**_ _. Again. We can't mess this one up or it will be forever before Bats gives us another one._ "

Wally's eyes became focused again. " _Right. Got it."_ Then his face morphed into a concerned look and Dick was already reaching into his utility belt's left back pocket before Wally could open his mouth again.

" _Yes. Here. Eat."_ Robin handed him one of Alfred's energy bars.

Wally didn't bother asking how Robin knew that he was hungry; he just stuffed it into his mouth. After a few chews, his eyes rolled back in his head. " _Ohmygodsoogooooood,_ " he said. " _How does Agent A pack so much awesomeness into something so small?"_

" _Years of practice. Now let me concentrate,"_ Robin demanded.

Below them, the Baltimore zoo was wreathed in darkness, the animals quieted down except for the nocturnals. Robin and Wally were perched on the service building that overlooked the pens holding the tigers, snow leopards and moon bears. The Team was here trying to protect the snow leopards from harm.

Unfortunately, since the leopards had been a gift from the Prime Minister of Israel, there were some terrorists threatening to bomb the zoo as a result. Batman thought it was likely a hoax, but sent the Team in to watch and make sure that nothing went wrong. It still ticked Robin off though. What had the leopards ever done to anyone?

So far, their nighttime vigil had been completely quiet. No movement anywhere. No bombs of any type registering on the Batware radar connected to Robin's glove computer. Nothing was happening at all. If the threat was going to be carried through, it would have to be hours from now.

" _Robin, report,_ " came Aqualad's voice.

" _All quiet here. Except Wally."_

" _Superboy?"_

" _Same. The stupid prairie dogs are doing stupid things, like they've been doing for the past six hours,"_ the clone reported.

" _They're so cute,"_ M'gann chimed in.

" _No bombs, no one sneaking in, no one doing anything,"_ Superboy summed up.

" _Don't sound so discouraged. It is good that nothing bad is happening to the leopards."_

" _And it's not going to happen,"_ Artemis summed up, " _not while I'm here."_

" _Agreed,"_ Kaldur said calmly. " _Does anyone need to take a break?"_

Robin was listening to everyone's answers when suddenly the nighttime sky lit up with a red ball of flame.

" _Down, Wally,"_ Robin commanded and they both dropped flat on the roof. Robin was dumbfounded. How had he missed a bomb? But when he looked up again, he realized it wasn't an explosion...it was a stationary ball of flame, like a portal. And stepping through the center of the light was a tall, thin boy dressed in a black, slim-cut suit with bell sleeves and a skinny black tie. Robin didn't even need to see the wicked face or the horns curved on his head to know who it was interrupting their stakeout.

"No way," Wally said aloud.

" _Robin, do you have a visual on the disturbance?"_

" _I do."_

" _It's that weirdo Klarion,"_ Wally exclaimed. " _What is he doing here?"_

The Witch Boy was now floating in the air while folded in the lotus position, eyes closed.

" _Weirdo,"_ Wally muttered.

" _On our way,"_ Artemis snapped.

Robin tapped his JLA communicator. " _Robin to Batman. Problem here."_

" _Batman to Robin,"_ the man replied after only a second's pause. " _Report."_

" _Klarion the Witch Boy has just opened a portal here. Advise."_

Klarion's eyes snapped open. " _Did you_ _ **really**_ _just make a call to Batman?"_

Robin nodded as he glared at Klarion, still trying to listen to Batman's answer. " _Keep him talking. I'll be there in fifteen. Flash should be there-"_

Then a shrieking filled Robin's ear along with a sharp pain that grew intolerable. It was the communicator. Robin fell to his knees as he tried to dig it out quick enough, but the damage was done. The tech piece came out bloody and Robin could hear nothing but a ringing out of that ear.

"You are so annoying!" Klarion yelled at him, his face contorted into rage.

" _Rob?"_ Wally said, pulling Robin to his feet. " _You okay?"_

"Robin?" M'gann floated the others onto the roof. "What happened?"

"I happened, stupid girl! Klarion, the Lord of Chaos happened. And he had the gall to call his mentor!"

"Yeah, and Batman said not to worry, that you shouldn't be too difficult to contain," Robin goaded him. "Or detain."  
"Or fart-tain," Wally added, quickly reading Robin's purpose of annoying the boy. "Know what that means?"

"Of course I know what that means," Klarion sneered. "But back to the bird. _You're_ the reason I'm here. We almost had it made; The Light's plan was going to work and we would have been the Lords of Earth."

"Klarion, why are you here?" Kaldur asked, trying to pull his attention from their youngest teammate.

"Revenge, you idiot, **which** you would understand if you had been listening! As I was saying, I was going to be a Lord of Earth. We had _Batman_ and _Superman_ under our control. Do you understand how major that is?" The boy rose higher in the air and stretched himself out, now standing on a disc of red fire. "All they had to do was take _you_ down-the little piddly Junior Justice League. And they were close- _so close._ Until they took you on, Boy Wonder."

"And me," Superboy growled. "He couldn't have done it without me."

Klarion laughed. "Yes, but you, I like. So rude, so uncontrollable, so primal. Not too far from a Lord of Chaos at all!"

"Screw you," Superboy snapped, "and come a little closer. I'd love to see if a Lord of Chaos can be beat to a pulp."

"Superboy," Kaldur said in a low voice.

Klarion cackled. "They have you on a tight leash, clone." The Witch Boy strode forward so that he was closer to Robin. "But you. As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted... I hate you. I hate your little laugh; I hate your smirk; I hate everything about you and of course, it was **you** that foiled our plan." His angry eyes bored into Robin's own and his words filtered in through what felt like a haze of cotton in Robin's mind. His ear was still on fire. But hate radiated from Klarion and Robin could read that just fine.

"Dude. Newsflash, wacko weirdo," Wally said, pushing Robin behind him. "We foil everyone's plans all the time-"

"Go away," Klarion hissed and suddenly, Wally was gone.

"What did you do?" Artemis yelled, and an arrow went flying toward Klarion, who batted it away easily.

"This," Klarion said, snapped his fingers, and then Artemis was gone, too.

Kaldur gave M'gann a nod, " _Can you use your psychic blast on him?"_

" _Now?"_

" _Yes. I believe his Lord of Chaos powers to be beyond a match for our own unless we-"_

"Do you all need a time out? Stop mind-talking! This is ridiculous!" Klarion raised his hands and the roof of the building softened and began sucking the team downward.

Robin gasped and tried without success to lift his boots out of the roof, which had turned to quicksand. Then he smartened up and shot a grapple line to a large tree nearby. It hooked and Robin triggered the recoil, expecting it to pull him out.

"No!" The line broke when Klarion sent a small red beam of fire to cut it.

" _Miss M, can you change the roof back?"_ Robin asked.

" _I'll try,"_ she said and spread her hands out wide. Her eyes glowed and for a moment, it seemed to help.

"Fine." Klarion said, sounding bored. "You go away, too."

M'gann disappeared.

"Why are you all **so annoying?** I thought the bird was the worst one!"

"Where are you sending them?" Robin yelled.

"It doesn't matter," Klarion shot back, then added, "and shut up!"

Robin tried to reply but his mouth wouldn't open. As in, literally wouldn't open. His gloved hands went to his mouth as he tried not to panic. There was a seal over his mouth, a soft, gooey one that smelled like-

"It's just really sticky icing that tastes great which I really shouldn't have wasted on you because I really. do. hate. you. Now, where was I?"

Kaldur reached over to Robin and sprayed his mouth with a gentle jet of water, but was unable to get the gooey stuff to move even the slightest bit. Then the leader faced Klarion and pulled out his Water-Bearers. "The Justice League will be here soon. You should surrender now before they arrive and see what you have done to their protégés." Kaldur said in a tight voice.

"Silence!" And with a wave of his hand, Kaldur was silenced, too.

But his powers were in no way hampered, and he slashed water whips at Klarion, who levitated out of the way and sent two red bolts of fire back at Kaldur. Kaldur tried to block them, but they burned through the water and struck him on each shoulder. The Atlantean fell to his knees, dropping his Water-Bearers.

" _Kaldur!"_ Robin jumped to assist him, but found himself stopped short, a burning rope of red fire lashed around him.

"Stop moving so much," Klarion snapped.

" _I am sorry, Robin."_ Kaldur was trembling, the fire wreaking havoc on his water-dependent body. " _I am of no help like this."_

Klarion looked pleased as he hovered back down near the roof. "Ah, at last, peace and quiet. Now, where was I? Oh, yes, how stupidly stupid it was that _you_ foiled the Light's plan."

As Klarion continued, Robin found his attention pulled away by the burning of the red ropes binding him. They were getting hotter and hotter, though his suit was still protecting him. But he wasn't sure how much more it could take. Surely Klarion wasn't going to burn him to death?

Then Robin heard another sound growing over the crackle of the flames, a familiar sound. Beside him, Kaldur nodded encouragingly. He had heard it as well: the sound of an approaching speedster. Robin's hopes leapt. Klarion was still droning on; he hadn't noticed anything.

"I literally had to excuse myself before it all went down, like a...wait. What is that?" Klarion interrupted himself. "Oh, that's right, you irritating little boy, you called the League. Well, we can't have them interfering."

Robin looked out from the rooftop and saw the Flash turning in the entrance to the zoo. It was impossible to see him for a few moments and then he was racing up the long path beside the Wetlands lake. In seconds, he had turned the corner and was taking the path beside the Grizzly Bear Habitat.

Then Klarion waved his hand, there was a red flash of light and the Flash ran straight into an invisible wall. The hero flopped back, boneless as a rag doll. Robin and Kaldur attempted to voice their outrage, but couldn't get even a sound out.

"Stupid speedster," Klarion spat. "It may get crowded here. Why don't we continue this little party over at my place? A little place you should probably just think of... as hell."

Kaldur was already looking up by the time Robin heard the Batjet approaching. But it was too late. Klarion had just opened a portal to another dimension.

"Teekl, where are you?" the Witch Boy called.

A loud _MEOW_ sounded and then an enormous orange striped cat vaulted onto the roof.  
"Did you have a good meal?"

The cat meowed and licked blood off its lips.

"It's time to go." Teekl shrunk as he jumped up and curled onto Klarion's shoulders. WIth a wave to Batman, Klarion lifted the remaining two teammates up in the air and pulled them behind him.

Batman sent out a Batnet, trying to catch the Witch Boy, but it simply disintegrated. Then Klarion put the team members in between him and Batjet, curtailing any other weaponry.

"Wave bye-bye to your mentor, stupid bird," Klarion said, and Robin's face burned with impotent anger. As they were pulled into the dimensional portal, Robin caught a glimpse of Batman's tightly controlled expression. _I will find you,_ he was saying.

Then, with a wink of light around them, the Batjet was gone and they were in another dimension.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Mute, burning up and scared out of his mind for his teammates, Robin had little room in his thoughts for what Klarion had promised them was to come. But whatever it was, it couldn't be good.

"Hell" was Klarion's home, a sprawling mass of hallways, rooms and stairways all made from large blocks of stone. It was cold, airless and horrible.

To Robin's relief, his other teammates were already there, trussed up with ropes that weren't burning and silenced as the other three had been. Had he been allowed to move, he would have run to them. But Klarion was not allowing them any freedom at all. They had to content themselves with communicating through the mindlink as Klarion arranged the Team members to his heart's content.

" _Is everyone all right?"_ Kaldur asked

" _Fine,"_ Artemis said.

" _I'm good,"_ M'gann answered. " _But he seems to have found a way to dampen my powers. I can't move."_

" _Same here,"_ Wally said. " _Robin?"_

" _Ticked off, partially deaf,"_ Robin said honestly, " _but otherwise good."_

"" _How is he blocking our powers,"_ Superboy fumed as Klarion stood him up in between M'gann and Kid Flash.

" _This is his home dimension. I think he is at his greatest power here,"_ Kaldur said calmly. " _But surely we will see a weakness at some point. Kid Flash?"_

" _I'm killing that cat first chance I get,"_ Wally spat. " _But I'm fine."_

" _Yes, let us remember that Klarion is linked to his familiar, Teekl. That is his only true weakness."_

" _Well, that, and the fact that he's a spoiled brat. It's easy to manipulate his emotions."_

" _True, Robin, but he is angry enough my friend. For now, we should lie low and wait until we see an opportunity to change the situation."_

"Stop mind-talking again! So rude! Now," the Witch Boy said, clasping his hands together with a satisfied air. "Now that we're all here, let me just finish my lesson before the punishments begin." Robin exchanged a glance with Wally, who had been placed beside him. Wally's face was dark with anger. But Robin was relieved to find everyone mostly okay, and glad that his ropes had slowly cooled down now, probably because Klarion's focus was divided.

"Let's see, where was I? Oh, right. You, bird boy, somehow managed to defeat your mentor and to help defeat Superman, without which I would have become a Lord of Earth. I was promised one-seventh of the Earth to rule! I would have had slaves, continents of riches and amusement enough for decades. Decades!" He paused and walked closer to Robin. "Maybe you don't understand what that means to me, since you've only lived, at most, one decade yourself. I've lived _hundreds_ of them, some passed in complete and utter boredom. **BOREDOM!"**

Spittle landed on Robin's face, but he didn't even flinch.

"In fact, I think you need a sample of the mental anguish I felt for those decades because you really don't seem to understand me! _It felt something like_ _**this!"**_ Klarion conjured a ball of red light and flung it at Robin, where it enveloped him.

Excruciating pain attacked Robin all over his body. Was it fire? Ice? Psychic? He couldn't tell and he couldn't fight it and couldn't scream and there was no way to stop from projecting his pain through the mindlink. The whole team went rigid.

"Oh, I like this! I hurt him and it hurts all of you, especially you," Klarion said, considering how Wally was struggling with his ropes. "You-Kid Flash. You are a pathetic waste of skin. But your friendship with bird boy intrigues me. Yet it won't save him. Or you. I have a special, special room waiting just for you."

Klarion laughed for a few moments and then frowned. "This is boring. Let's get to the room assignments. This way, please."

The six teenagers were lifted and floated down a long hallway, helpless to do more than watch.

 _Robin are you all right?_ M'gann asked.

 _Yes,_ Robin managed. _Sorry about that._ Though echoes of pain were still cycling through his system, it was no longer excruciating.

 _Not your fault,_ Conner growled.

Their reassurances were nice, but Robin's stomach was cramping with dread. What would Klarion's version of hell for Wally be? Or for Miss M?

"And here we are! This is a special room I've prepared for the leader of your little tribe. Leaders should always go first, shouldn't they?" Klarion gestured and the featureless steel door slid back to reveal an enormous, waterless fish tank. "I'm afraid it's rather dry in there, and will probably sap the moisture from your body in just a few hours."

" _No!"_ Miss M cried out. " _Kaldur, you'll die."_

" _I have no choice,"_ their leader said calmly as Klarion floated him forward and dumped him in the gravel lining the tank. His ropes disappeared and Kaldur began stretching as soon as he was released. "I will be fine," he encouraged the others aloud. "Stay strong."

"Oh, dry up," Klarion snapped, then giggled as he shut the door behind the Atlantean. "That was amusing."

The teammates' horrified conversation revolved around revenge plots and cursing as the Witch Boy floated them farther down the hallway. Robin felt himself growing desperate.

"Now, here's a fun one." The next door on the other side of the hallway revealed an empty stone room. The teammates all looked at each other. M'gann's eyes were full of tears.

" _It's okay, Miss M,"_ Robin said. " _He just wants to punish us, not kill us."_

" _I know, I know,"_ she said hopelessly. " _But I feel so helpless!"_

" _I hate this,"_ Artemis muttered.

"This room is for the Martian Girl. Negates all her powers. Well, almost all." The Witch Boy giggled. "In you go." She floated in, the ropes disappearing and her mouth released as soon as she reached the center.

"Please don't do this," she said tearfully.

"I am not a merciful lord, so STOP ASKING for mercy!" Klarion twisted one hand and flames shot out of the walls. Megan cried out and ran to the other side of the room. But then the flames switched sides and she had to run again.

" _Oh my god,"_ Artemis muttered. " _Are you sure he's not trying to kill us?"_

Robin's eyes were open wide.

" _I'll kill him!"_ Superboy screamed. " _I'll kill him!"_

"Oh. Are you angry, Superboy? I can see that. But you know, I think if you saw things from my point of view, you'd understand. Let's see if we can't change your mind." And with a flourish of his hands, Klarion reached toward Superboy's head, then into and through his head. Superboy's expression went from rage to instant blankness. His mental link disappeared.

" _Supes?"_ Wally asked hesitantly.

There was no answer.

"He's mine now. Mine to control. Which is, for a clone, his own kind of hell. Right?" Klarion smiled. "Superboy, fix me a mocha latte. And dance like Michael Flatley on the way."

Conner turned and immediately began dancing an Irish jig all the way down the hallway.

The three teammates watched him with horror, knowing how much the clone would absolutely hate this loss of control and independence.

" _He's evil,"_ Artemis said, so angry now that she was actually crying a little.

"Now, on to the next room. Here is where we place our archer," Klarion said, turning to face Artemis. "It's a room...of nothing. I have to admit that I don't really know much about you, nor do I care enough to research what you deserve. But I imagine that being helpless and able to hear the misery of the others might just be enough to push you over the edge. I hope so."

Artemis was dropped in the center of the room, and as soon as her mouth was released, she let loose a scorching diatribe that left Klarion, briefly, silenced.

The door slid shut. "My, my, what an angry girl. Someone needs to take her to counseling. Well, onward and upwards."

Only Wally and Robin were left now. Robin was trembling, half with anger, half with growing dread as to what was coming for him. Klarion obviously hated him. Robin forced the worry from his mind and began to breathe slow and easy.

" _It's okay, Rob,"_ Wally told him through the mind-link. " _I'll get out and come find you. Just stay combobulated!"_

" _I'm afraid I'm a little heavy on the dis right now,"_ Rob gave him a half-smile.

"No! No smiling!" Klarion spat and threw out an energy pulse at Robin. Unable to dodge, the boy took the burning shot to the gut and collapsed. The force that kept him immobile also kept him upright and silent as the pain took over his senses.

" _-bin! Robin! Are you okay?"_ Wally was frantic over the mindlink.

Robin slowly opened his eyes, wincing. This time, the burning pain had left a melted patch on the stomach of his uniform and the skin beneath felt scorched. " _Hurts_ ," he told Wally, " _but its manageable."_

Klarion was staring at Robin through narrowed eyes. "Every time I think my hatred for you has hit full stride, then you do something else that makes it worse. I really don't think I can tolerate your existence any further. Or...well, _fine_. First let's see your friend dropped off in his little bungalow."

The final door opened and behind was a white room nearly covered in sugary foods-doughnuts, cookies, cakes and ice cream. It looked more like Wally's heaven than Wally's hell.

"You can eat all you want, and with that high metabolism, you'll have to eat a lot. But...no water. No protein. Just sugar." Wally was being sent in floating, helpless.

Robin was just beginning to see the evil behind the room, the way Wally would be forced to eat nothing but sugar to help stop his hunger pangs, which would make him thirsty and hungry again too soon. All that sugar would make him hyper, and eventually, sick.

"Oh, and I'm tripling the gravity in there," Klarion added. "Just for fun."

When Wally was released, he fell to the floor, groaning and cursing Klarion liberally.

"I don't think I've ever been called that before," the Witch Boy said. "No matter. You'll just be eating yourself to death, worried about your little friend here." Klarion gestured to Robin, still standing there, frozen, watching helplessly.

" _I'm so sorry,"_ Robin said to him.

"But don't worry too much. He's not going to be around nearly as long as you are. When we get to his room, he dies. Buh-bye!"

Wally's eyes grew wide and as the door closed, he shouted. "No! You can't kill him! **NO!"** Then the door shut and all sound was cut off.

Robin once again sagged, horrified. It was hopeless. Klarion wasn't giving them the chance to save each other, or escape. He was being led to his death...

 _No._ He would not give up hope. Batman had trained him not to panic, not to give in. Think and plan all the way through to the end. _Find a weakness, find a chink, a crack._ There had to be one somewhere.

Shakily, he opened his mind and checked the link to his friends. _Guys?_

 _Don't give up, Rob! I'll find a way out soon,_ Wally told him.

 _I am fine as well, just conserving my strength,_ Kaldur projected.

 _Artemis?_ Wally asked.

 _I'm FINE! There's nothing even in here to hurt me. That's how little he thinks of me, a puny human!_ Her bitterness was palpable. _But I will be fine. Robin, stay traught._

He had to laugh at that. His gaze roamed the halls as Klarion floated him forward. _I will. Miss M?_ Robin asked.

 _Busy. Sorry,_ she answered, and Robin had the horrible feeling she was still dodging flames.

 _Stay strong, my friends,_ Kaldur said to them all, before pulling out of the mindlink.

Klarion was practically giddy. "I should have done this years ago. Did you see his face when I said you were going to die? And don't worry, you aren't going to suffer too much. I mean, I don't think so. I have this spell I'm dying to try on you. It will basically turn you into an inanimate object. So you'll be dead-no heartbeat, no brain to think with. So, dead...forever. But I don't think it'll _really_ hurt. Are you ready?"

Robin was struck dumb, his mind still grappling with the impossibility of being an object, forever.

Klarion was watching his face carefully. "Is that fear? I think it is. Hard to tell. You're so stupidly stoic. Here, let's take off the mask. Ooooooo, really pretty eyes. I can see why those got covered up. But it's so much easier to see the fear now. There. Ready to die?"

Robin took a deep breath and tried to settle his mind, _Batman will save me. Batman will get Dr. Fate and they'll come and help me._

" _Robin, what's wrong?"_ Wally called to him _. "Robin! What's he doing?"_

The others chimed in, proving that the mindlink was still there, even if no one wanted to talk at the moment.

But Robin didn't want them to know what was going to happen to him, plus...he didn't even know how to say it. Then the Witch Boy began his incantation and Robin felt himself pierced through, like a bolt of lightning had just struck inside him. The pain spread from his center outward, and he feared it also spread through the mindlink. Everyone was feeling his agony.

 _Who are you?_ _ **Who are you?**_ The question thundered through his mind and he found answers rising up without his approval. Memories of joy, of loss, of accomplishment and pain streamed forth, as if someone were taking a careful reading of his entire life. After a long time, the questions seemed to be answered and for a moment, just a moment, there was peace.

Then Robin felt his body struck with an invisible force, once, twice, three times and then, his whole body seemed to shake loose and fall slack. He was himself, but shrinking...shrinking and softening...

...slowly unbecoming himself...

...slowly losing his hands and feet...

...his arms and legs...

...horrified...silently screaming with no mouth...

...losing his mind...

 _...Who am I._...

and then...

then.

He was not there anymore.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 _Hours later..._

Wally just couldn't understand it. How did Klarion know?

 _Ugh._

Wally was lying on the floor, groaning from the gravity, groaning from the pain in his stomach. He _had_ to eat again; the hunger pangs were sharp. But all there was to eat was more sugar and that was the last thing he wanted.

 _I'm going crazy,_ he thought. _I don't want any of this stuff in here. In fact, I might never want a doughnut again. Or ice cream._

Wally groaned as he turned over, slowly and lethargically, feeling like a beached whale. Three times the gravity of normal. Wally hated it. He _hated_ this. How had Klarion known how awful this would be for him? Did the Witch Boy have nothing better to do than sit around thinking of horrible things to do to people?

 _Probably._

And Robin. What had he done to Robin? For a long minute, he'd been sharing Robin's pain, sharing the confusion and horror, and then it had all cut off. Robin had pulled himself out of the mindlink; he hadn't wanted them to feel it. Wally couldn't blame him; Kaldur and Miss M had done the same thing.

How long had they been in this hellhole? How long had the others been tormented? Because really, he couldn't count himself among the tormented. This was bad, but come on-he was mostly doing it to himself.

Wally forced himself to roll over one more time. _There_. He'd reached the door, finally. Now he was far, far from the food, but he could at least reach the stupid door. It took him an age to get on his feet, even using the wall for support. But finally he could touch it, to confirm that yes, the door was featureless, couldn't be moved and couldn't be broken. The others had said as much.

 _Dammit!_

Wally was breathing heavily, the drag of gravity making every movement so very difficult. He leaned against the door, feeling helpless and hopeless. _Stay strong_ , he willed his teammates, wishing Miss M still had her mindlink up, but it had faded a long time ago. He tried not to think why. _Stay strong._

 _I think I'll just lay here a while,_ he decided, as he slid down the door.

But just then, the door slid open, and he tumbled out into the hallway.

Looking up in bewilderment, he saw a wicked face staring gleefully down at him.

"Oh no," Wally said.

"Oh yes," Klarion returned. "I'm bored and I've decided I want you to play a game. Come with me."

To his relief, Wally found that he could stand and that gravity was normal out in the hallway. Of course, he still felt sick from the sugar and unsteady on his feet, but this was a huge improvement.

"What did you do to Robin?"

"Oh! That's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about!" Klarion floated up off the floor, sitting on a red flame. "Are you listening?" he asked, pausing.

"I'm listening."

Klarion frowned. "I don't want to repeat myself. I don't like it."

"Okay," Wally said slowly.

"So, I went to the first room and watched the waterboy for a while, but all he's doing is dying. Boring. And then I went to the second room but the Martian girl is just in a huddle on the floor, unconscious. Borrrrring. And the archer girl is crying and the Superboy is making me my thirty-fifth latte. Borrrrrrrring."

Wally controlled himself with difficulty. "And Robin?"

Klarion grinned. "This is my favorite part. You see, I learned a new spell about...well...a thousand years ago. I used it a bunch and then totally forgot about it! Then I was looking at your scrawny, little, annoying friend and it suddenly jumped into my mind. So I used it on him. And it's the best spell ever because it reduces the person down to an inanimate object-only it's not some random object or even something you choose. Nope."

"An...an inanimate object?" Wally stuttered.

"Yes. Pay attention. Inanimate meaning 'not animated', as in 'not alive.' Like a vase or a clock. Get it?"

Wally nodded, speechless with horror.

"Only here's the best part: the spell reads the heart of the person the spell is cast on and it turns them into something that represents the essence of who they are. So you cast it on a person who's a selfish, greedy bastard and they turn into a...urinal or something. It's great!"

"And...you...cast it on Robin?"

Klarion stared at him. "I've already said that! Pay attention! Now, for the fun part. You two are friends, right?" Wally nodded. "Good friends?"

"The best," he replied tightly.

"Oh, how sweet. Let me vomit a moment. So you think you know him pretty well?"

"Better than anyone else in the world. Or almost better," Wally corrected, thinking Bruce might edge him out slightly in that regard.

"Think you'd recognize his soul if you saw it?"

"What? Yeah. Of course."

"Oh this is too good! Well, I'm going to give you a chance, right now, to save Robin. If you can find him, and with only one try, identify him, then you can have him back."

"Really? No tricks?"

"No tricks. You only get one shot, though, and I'm not promising to make it easy."

Wally snorted. "Shocking. Just show me where to go, Witch Boy."

Klarion floated along ahead of Wally, chattering happily to himself. After a minute, Teekl appeared out of nowhere and followed them, too. It took every ounce of self-control Wally had not to go after that damn cat. But he had to play along in order to find Robin. After turning several corners, Wally was stunned to see an enormous library ahead. The room was three stories high, filled with leather-tooled books and artwork of various kinds decorating the stone walls.

They passed on to an enormous set of doors, where Superboy suddenly appeared, blank-faced and ready to serve. Wally felt even more nauseated watching him as he pulled back one door and bowed slightly.

"Thank you, my good man," Klarion said a nasal imitation of a British accent.

As Wally followed, staggering slightly, Superboy flipped on the lights.

Wally stopped in the doorway, his jaw dropping. The room was the size of the Young Justice gym and was mirrored all along the walls, and even the ceiling, too. And all that space, from one end to the other, was filled with tables covered in knickknacks. Wally's gaze fell on a few of the objects on the tables nearest him-a blue vase, a red rose, a wooden bowl, a black onyx ring. He was supposed to look at all of these things and choose the one that was...Robin's soul?

"What do you think?" Klarion asked him, dancing slightly in the aisles.

Wally looked around blankly. "How...how long do I have?"

"As long as you want, only remember that your friends are dying and if you want to rescue them next...well, you'll have to hurry. But you only get one shot at choosing."

"What if I'm wrong?"

"Then you go back to your room and die there, I guess. Maybe I'll let someone else out to try. I don't know. Oh! I know! You'll turn into an object, too! Perfect!"

Wally looked around again and steeled himself. He had to do this for Robin. He had to focus, be scientific. Surely there were things Rob _wouldn't_ be, things that were obvious. First, he should discount those things. Rob wouldn't be anything ostentatious, or girly or weak. He was an adrenaline junkie, a fierce fighter, a wordsmith, and a born hero. His favorite color was blue; his favorite food was Alfred's eggplant parmigiana; and no matter how much he protested that he loved his life, he was often lonely. If Wally knew all that, then he knew Rob. He could do this.

So Wally began moving from table to table, ignoring his nausea and wiping nervous sweat from his brow. The first table was full of things that obviously weren't Robin and so Wally moved on. The second table had a small blue hot wheels car among other scattered items. It was old and battered, which made Wally pause. Something about it called to him, so he moved it to a small empty table in the center.

"Is that your choice?" Klarion asked greedily.

"No! I haven't even _seen_ everything! I haven't chosen anything until I say the words. Right?"  
"Oh, whatever. This is getting boring. I'm going to go torment the archer girl for a while and tell her what you're doing." Klarion cackled and disappeared.

Superboy was still there at the doorway and Wally waited for a moment to see if he would be freed since the Witch Boy was gone. But Conner's face was emotionless and still.

Wally walked over to him. "Keep fighting, Conner. We'll find a way out." There was no response in the clone's face.

Wally sighed and turned to continue his task. Table three was easy to discard. Table four as well. Tables five, six and seven only provided one small magnifying glass. It probably wasn't Rob, but then again, his detective work was something of which the boy was very proud. It _could_ be him, so Wally put the glass beside the car.

Over time, the objects began to blur together; each of the tables seemed to take longer. By the time Wally was past exhausted, there was still half the room left to go.

"Water?" Conner was standing there, holding a glass of water, face blank.

"Thanks," Wally said before greedily drinking it down. _Ohhhhhh._ That was so much better. Did that mean that Conner was making decisions on his own? Wally shot him a glance and finally noticed that Conner was trembling slightly, as if it had taken a great deal of effort to bring Wally that water. "Really, Conner, thanks. But can you go help Kaldur or M'gann instead? They need you more than me."

Conner blinked a few times, then turned and walked through the door.

"Okay, back to work," Wally said as he turned back to the enormous room. "Robin, where are you?" Rubbing his gritty eyes, Wally headed for table number sixty-seven. His eyes skipped over the umbrella, the ballerina on pointe, the silver cup, the necklace with a bow and arrow on it, the wooden platter and came to rest on a beautiful gemstone the color...yeah, he was pretty sure that it was the _exact_ color of Robin's eyes.

It was ostentatious; it was hard; but it was beautiful and wouldn't Rob's soul be...beautiful? _Ugh._ Wally felt weird just asking that question, but for some reason, he couldn't set the gemstone aside. It went on the "perhaps" table that already had a blue hot wheels car, a magnifying glass, a small wooden carving of a robin, a nautilus shell, a blue feather, a crystal bowl and a light blue piece of sea glass. The gemstone stood out among them, but was it really him?

Wally shuddered. If that was Robin, then he'd been holding him in his hand. Could Robin feel it? Was his friend alive? Aware? It was too horrible to contemplate.

Wally headed back to his wearying task. After ten more tables that provided a snow globe, a golden birdcage and a jade statue of a cheetah, Wally was finally on the last row of tables.

After another long while, Conner appeared at the entrance to the room, a chair in hand. Without speaking, he walked over and set the chair down near the mirrored wall, then walked back out. While Wally was looking over the last eight tables, Conner continued to bring chairs in from time to time. When there were four, he stopped.

A few minutes later, Conner took one of the chairs out and brought in a cot with a pillow instead. By this time, Wally was looking over the final table of items, disgusted with its collection of obsidian and black marble knickknacks. None of them reminded him of Rob at all. Most of this was just such a huge waste of time.

Wally sighed and walked back over to the table in the center of the room, where all the items he hadn't discounted had been placed. There were only twelve items. Twelve, out of thousands! What if Wally had missed Robin somewhere out there? He cast a glance over the room and decided to do another walk-through. After all, there was no time limit, and what if he had missed one item-the very one that held Rob's soul?

Then followed another endless stretch of time with Wally forcing his mind to focus on each item one by one again...until he was interrupted.

"Your team is so insipid!" Klarion suddenly screeched, making Wally jump about a foot in the air.

He wheeled around, breathing heavily. "Oh yeah? Well, your trophy room is so...so..."

Klarion raised his eyebrows. "...impressive? amazing? stupendous?"

"Freaking ridiculous! No one needs this much _stuff!"_

"I thought I explained this more clearly. This isn't _stuff_. These are people, all of whom I enchanted as some part of a clever bargain. I guess I could throw them out, burn them, destroy them...but, some part of me just loves to gloat over them and their frustrated lives. They all had plans, dreams, nightmares and now look at them- perpetually stuck in time." He sighed with pleasure.

Wally stared at the tables again. So he wasn't hunting for Robin in a room of trinkets. He was hunting for Robin in a sea of anonymous souls. And he'd been touching so many of them. Could they feel it? Wally felt himself trembling.

"Anyhoo. So your team is up next. They're going to watch you make your choice and doom your friend to a meaningless existence!" Klarion snapped his fingers and the doors opened.

First, M'gann came floating in, pale, exhausted and shaking. She was drenched in sweat and could barely keep her eyes open. The cot was for her and Klarion let her down rather gently.

"What did you do to her?" Wally demanded, running over to the cot.

"Oh, stop being ridiculous. You know exactly when I did to her! Jets of fire at random intervals and placement-for hours. So fun to watch. Probably not much fun to dodge."

Wally was only half-listening. He put a hand on Miss M's shoulder. "Are you okay?" She had been singed in quite a few places, and her hair had been burned off partially on one side. It must have been horrible.

The girl looked up at him, glassy-eyed. "Water?"

Wally looked around and found Conner in the corner of the room. The clone seemed to nod at him before heading for the door. Hopefully, Klarion would let him bring her some.

"Don't worry. I'll find Rob and we'll get out of this place." Wally told the girl, just as Klarion brought in Aqualad.

He also looked dehydrated and hardly able to sit up, but somehow their team leader managed it. "How is Robin?" he asked through parched lips.

"I have no idea," Wally returned, his eyes traveling over the tables again. "But I'll get it right, don't worry."

"I have no worries, my friend. The bond you two share will guide you. If anyone knows Robin, it is you."

Wally breathed in deeply. "Right. Thanks. Are you okay?"

"I am surviving. Water would go a long way towards reviving me."

"Conner is working on it."

Then Artemis was brought in, wrapped head to toe in ropes and gagged by a handkerchief as well. "What the hell?" Wally yelled as soon as he saw her.

Klarion was glaring at her. "I had to do it because she wouldn't stop calling me names and trying to kill me. It got very old. I thought the clone had anger management issues, but she makes him look like a kitten."

Artemis was set down in one of the chairs, still shooting venomous looks at Klarion. Wally thought she looked murderous and slightly- well, okay- really, really hot when she glared like that. But no- he had to focus. He was still re-checking tables, trying to ignore his audience.

Conner returned with the drinks after a few more minutes. Wally wasn't sure what would happen if Klarion noticed Conner helping his teammates, but he shouldn't have worried. Klarion was far too busy gasping, giggling and hovering over Wally as he looked over each piece. On several occasions, the Witch Boy offered information Wally didn't need.

"So glad you didn't pick _her_. She was a horrible human being and deserved to be turned into a cow pattie."  
Wally glared at him. "I just touched a cow pattie...soul?"

Klarion giggled. "I'm pretty sure that's what it was, a cow pattie shaped like a bowl. I mean, I knew she was bad, but for that to be the form her soul takes? _Ooooooo_. I wouldn't touch that one, either."

Wally hesitated. He studied the ten inch tower shaped vaguely like a headstone.

"More cow poo?"

Klarion nodded as he floated. "I think so. Smelled really bad at first."

Wally clenched his fists. "This is a waste of time. Why are you making me do this? Just set Robin free. He's worth a hundred of these people!"

Klarion's face turned dark and his eyes glowed bright red. "It is not a waste of time! You are here, in my dimension, in my home, trespassing on my mercy! So shut up and do the task I set out for you. Or is it too hard? Ready to give up and doom Robin to an existence as a paperweight?"

Wally narrowed his eyes. "Is he a paperweight?"

Klarion threw back his head to laugh. "As if I'd be stupid enough to give it away that easily. You puny metahuman. You'll never be smart enough to figure it out."

Wally knew, somewhere deep in his gut, that Klarion was right. Despite his team members' faith in him, he knew that he hadn't yet seen Robin. None of these knickknacks seemed right, even though some of them had a thread of meaning. Each of the ones he had pulled out for the center table represented some part of Robin, but none of them were his _soul_.

Wally cast his gaze over the last two tables, but nothing there seemed even remotely close. Desperation made him break out in a sweat. This had to be a trick of some kind. "Klarion! _Where is he? What have you done with him?"_

Klarion continued to laugh, floating higher in the air and swinging his arms around in a circle. "He's somewhere in this room, idiot. I've already told you..."

Klarion went on with his insults, deriding Wally's family, his intellect and his abilities as a hero. But Wally wasn't listening.

For the first time, Wally was looking at the whole room. Klarion hadn't said that Robin was something on a table. He had said that Robin's soul was _in the room_.

Wally's gaze automatically traveled up, to where the mirrored ceiling gave a strange, bright reflection of the room below. There were enormous chandeliers hanging, ornately designed, with golden frameworks that dripped glass crystals reflecting light in every direction. Ostentatious and fancy and most definitely _not_ Robin.

But something up in the air...of course...it only made sense. Why wouldn't Rob's-Dick Grayson's-soul be found up in the air?

Wally walked around the room again, this time, looking up at the chandeliers every thirty feet or so, the recessed lighting, and the mirrors. That was all he saw until...

 _Bang!_

Wally had walked straight into a table, but he only had eyes for something in the far corner of the room _,_ something a very familiar shade of blue _._ He forced himself to look down only to keep from damaging the more fragile souls on the table.

Then Wally was in the corner, looking up, tears filling his eyes. He knew it. It was Rob.

"Bring him down, Klarion," he snapped.

Klarion was glaring at him with bright, venomous hatred. "No! It's a chandelier. It's supposed to _hang_ from the _ceiling_."

"Then take me up there!" Wally demanded.

"Fine." Klarion snapped and sent a red disc of flame toward Wally. Instead of incinerating him, as he half expected, the flame tucked under his feet and lifted him in the air, tickling, not burning him. "But you're wrong," the Witch Boy said in a singsong voice, "he's not _that_ one."

Wally put his hands up as he neared the ceiling, but the disc halted before slamming Wally against the mirrored tiles. Then, there he was, staring at the object that represented- that _was_ \- Robin's soul. There was no doubt- there never could have been- if only he could have seen this first, he would have known. After all, anyone who knew Dick knew that he could light up a room.

It was a chandelier, but one unlike anything Wally had ever seen before. It consisted entirely of cobalt blue blown-glass pieces shooting out from a short blue pole. Each blown-glass piece gently expanded outward before tapering off to a delicate tip where a tiny point of light glowed. They were sharp enough to look dangerous, extending out in all directions so that the design was never symmetrical, but unexpectedly beautiful. The small pinpoints of light reflected against the blue blown- glass pieces like a universe of stars. It was...beautiful.

Wally found his eyes wet with tears. He laughed out loud. Yes, this was Rob! Robin was brilliant, unexpected, dangerous, happy in the air and yes-he shared his light with everyone. There was an odd rush of affection; Wally found himself wanting to pat the chandelier, to tell it that everything was going to be fine, but stopped himself. He hoped with every fiber of his being that Robin was not cognizant in any way, shape or form. Otherwise, he would be in hell.

Wally composed himself and turned to Klarion. The Witch Boy was floating just feet away now, his face as shadowed and dark as midnight. "This is Robin; this is his soul. I choose this piece!"

There was an expectant hush from down below as everyone waited for Klarion's answer.

" _Noooooooooo!_ How dare you? How dare you!" the Witch Boy shouted, spiralling off away from Wally. "You were supposed to be the stupid one!" Wally only had seconds to be insulted, and then he was falling. With horror, he saw that above him, a figure had suddenly appeared and was now falling, too, completely limp.

Only this figure was cobalt blue and shiny and probably breakable.

"Conner!" Wally called and then he was being caught by strong arms. It hurt momentarily, and then he scrambled to get out of the way. But before he could do more than stand up, M'gann had her hands up and Robin's fragile form had stopped in mid-air, several feet up from the ground. M'gann swayed, but kept Robin steady. Kaldur moved to stand beside her. Apparently, Klarion had to focus his power to dampen their superpowers, and right now, he was anything but focused.

"Thank you," Wally mumbled to M'gann. Then Artemis was by his side, suddenly freed.

"I knew you weren't a complete idiot," she said, and then she kissed him.

"Robin is blue. And he's not breathing." Wally was lost in the kiss until Conner's voice stopped him. "There's no heartbeat."

Wally dashed to Robin's side, pulling Artemis with him. It was true. Somehow that _was_ Robin, but his skin was cobalt blue and shiny like glass. He didn't appear to be...alive. It was horrifying.

"Klarion!" Wally bellowed, but the Witch Boy was still throwing a tantrum, tossing flaming balls of red at the room around him. Chunks of rock exploded out from the walls wherever he hit. "What's wrong with Robin?" His voice cracked in the middle. "You said you'd release him if I chose the right soul and I did!"

Klarion zoomed over to yell in Wally's face. "I did release him! Magic takes time! And you know what? I've changed my mind. It's really _you_ I hate!"

The boy floated away, howling in rage and throwing red balls of fire toward Wally. But M'gann easily deflected the red fire. "No! NO! _NO!"_ Klarion raged, sending more flames toward the walls.

All around them, the building began to rumble. It looked like Klarion was going to destroy his home in his anger.

"It is time to escape. Follow me, everyone." Kaldur led the way toward the door, Water-Bearers out. At first, it was an easy jog, but then Klarion saw them escaping.

"You ruin everything! Every time!" And he hurled red fire at the stone above the open double doors.

The team was still ten feet back when the wall exploded, stone sent hurtling in their direction. Conner stepped forward and pounded at the stones he could reach, breaking them to powder. The ones that sailed over his head were hit by Aqualad's Water-Bearers and lashed out of the way. M'gann was feeling strong enough to put up a temporary shield while still levitating Robin, but only a few stones were left to deflect.

A short wall of debris had gathered in front of the door, but it was simple to navigate and the Team was through easily. Klarion's inhuman howl of fury followed them down the hallway. The Witch Boy had never seemed exactly sane, and now there was no doubt that he was sinking into a state quite far removed from sanity.

"You will never escape me! _NEVER!"_

The chanting of a spell reached them and the Team redoubled their efforts. Kid Flash put Artemis on his back and sped ahead. Conner tucked a slightly less blue Robin in tightly to his chest and leapt forward, covering twenty feet at a leap. M'gann lifted Kalder and herself high in the air and flew them forward.

The front door lay at the end of the long hallway. The whole team was halfway down it in seconds.

Behind them, flames blew out from the ballroom and shot down the hallway, licking so hot at the stone that it caught fire and began to melt. But as fast as it progressed, Kid Flash was still out the door, depositing Artemis in safety before the flames reached the atrium. Conner was out the door with Robin two seconds later and then Kaldur and M'gann flew out just ahead of the rush of fire.

"Get back!" Kaldur ordered, and everyone threw themselves aside. The flames roared out of the building, white hot and insidiously alive. They licked up the sparse grass and anything flammable in their path.

Kaldur and M'gann weren't the only ones feeling the effects of the fire. Wally tried to shield Artemis from the worst of it. But if it even caught stones on fire, what chance did they have?

"This way!" called a voice, and a strong rush of cold air beat the fire back.

The Team looked up to see a dimensional doorway about a hundred feet away. There, standing silhouetted against the yellow flames of the portal were Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman.

Superman's arctic breath was beating back Klarion's fire and Batman was already nearing them, moving as fast as Wally had ever seen him.

"Report," Batman barked out.

Wally looked at Robin, still limp in Conner's arms, his skin now a lighter blue and less glass-like. He caught Conner's eye and the clone offered, "He has a heartbeat now."

A familiar screech of fury cut through their conversation. "This is impossible! How are you here?" Klarion had appeared outside the smoking ruins of his castle. "I didn't open a portal! Who did this?"

"Dr. Fate opened it for us, and he awaits us on the other side, Klarion," said Wonder Woman.

"I don't care what he's waiting for. You can't take them. I'm not done with them yet!" Klarion screeched.

"Oh yes you are," growled Batman.

Wonder Woman pulled out her lasso. "You need boundaries, little one. And I know someone who would be rather pleased to teach them to you."

"No!" Klarion howled. "No one teaches me! Teekl!" The ginger cat blinked into existence and leapt up to Klarion's arms. "I'm going somewhere fun!" the Witch Boy spat. " I hate you all!"

"Stop him!" Wally shouted.

But Wonder Woman's lasso closed on nothing but thin air. The Witch Boy had summoned a portal of his own and disappeared.

"I hate it when he does that," Conner grumbled.

"Why isn't Robin breathing?" Superman asked, striding over to the Team.

"He still isn't breathing?" Wally squeaked out.

Then began a nightmarish segment of time that Wally forever after tried to forget. Robin wasn't breathing and Batman insisted they had to rush him back to the Watchtower. On the way, they all tried to explain how Robin had been an inanimate object for hours and probably would recover on his own once the magic let him go. Or something like that.

Even more difficult was the job of explaining why Wally was babbling about Rob's soul being a light fixture.

"Someone tell me something that makes sense," Batman finally demanded, standing just outside the room where Robin was being examined by M'gann's Uncle J'onn.

"It was a spell, Batman," Kaldur explained. "While the rest of us were incarcerated, Klarion cast a spell to change Robin into an object that represented his soul. It was part of a scheme to take revenge on Robin for his part in frustrating the Light's plan."

Kid Flash flushed red as the Team Leader went on to tell of Wally's eventual triumph over the Witch Boy's test. It _was_ rather difficult to get Batman to understand why Robin's soul was represented by a funky blue chandelier.

Wally finally gave up, mumbling, "If you'd seen it, you'd understand."

"And the Witch Boy said that he would return to normal?" Batman asked in a quieter voice.

Everyone looked at Wally. "Not exactly," Wally said. "He just said that magic takes time and that's why Rob wasn't back to normal yet."

Batman gave a final nod and swept back into the room. The Team was treated for their many minor injuries and sent to wait for word about Robin. They refused to leave the Watchtower until they saw him.

Wally was beyond depressed. His brain wouldn't stop telling him that being inanimate was like being brain-dead, and people don't recover when they've been brain dead for hours. It was impossible. But then...that spell should have been impossible, too. Plus, Rob's heart had recovered after being inanimate for hours, so why not the rest of him?

Wally sat back and leaned his head against the wall, trying to think about something else. Artemis shifted closer and laid her head on his shoulder. The scent of her shampoo wafted over him and for just a moment, he found relief.

It was only an hour later that several League members, including a recovered Flash and Superman, crowded into Robin's room. Wally stood and walked over, trying to hear what was going on.

"He is breathing?" J'onn was asking incredulously. "It would seem impossible."

"His skin is nearly normal now," Batman offered. "It appears that the spell was reversible."

"Wally will be so happy to hear that!" the Flash said, and then he appeared at the door. His grin grew wider when he caught sight of Wally. "Did you hear that? He's breathing!" Barry pulled Wally into a hug, and the relief that swept through Wally nearly took his legs out from under him.

"Hey, you need to eat, don't you?"

"Yes, but-nothing sweet! Please," Wally begged as they headed for the cafeteria, leaving a rejoicing team behind them.

"Never thought I'd hear you say that," Barry said, still smiling wide.

But the journey wasn't over for Robin then, or even when he finally opened his eyes and they discovered that his pupils had darkened to a cobalt blue. Even awake, he was unresponsive, more like a doll than his old self. The Team saw him but didn't stay long; they couldn't stand it.

It took another week before Robin spoke a word, and another month before he could carry on conversations normally, if slowly. Being inanimate had, according to J'onn, destroyed some of the neural pathways in his brain and they were being rebuilt slowly.

So Wally didn't give up. He would go over to Wayne Manor, welcome in a way the others couldn't be because of Dick's secret identity. The two of them would hang out and play video games and all the while Wally was watching Dick for signs that things were getting back to normal. Soon Dick was back to training with Batman. Everything seemed to be heading in the right direction.

Then the next time he hung out with Dick, the boy's speech seemed almost normal. They were laughing like they used to and Wally was just basking in the glow. He'd really missed this.

But then Dick's face fell, right in the middle of one of Wally's school stories. And Wally paused. "What is it?"

Dick had grown used to Wally being hyperaware of everything concerning him, so he simply answered. That was the one thing that was an improvement from before: Dick seemed to trust Wally implicitly now.

"I need to tell you something."

"Okay. Shoot."

"Everyone keeps waiting for me to get back to normal."

"Yeah. And?"

"I don't think I'll ever be normal again."

Wally's stomach dropped. "Why? What do you mean?"

"I have to show you something."

"Uh. Okay. What?"

Dick hesitated, then stood and pulled Wally to a corner of his room. His dark blue eyes bored into Wally's. "Don't. freak. out." He didn't look away until Wally nodded. Then Dick took a deep breath and extended his right arm.

He rolled up his sleeve so that Wally could see the way that his arm was turning a light blue color. Wally jumped, grabbing on to Dick's shoulder. His arm turned a darker shade of blue, losing its matte appearance. It was like watching the reverse of when Dick had been changing out of his inanimate shape. And okay, Wally was freaking out a little.

"That's...that's..." but he never finished his sentence. Dick's arm had retained its shape, down to the fingers and nails, but it had the look of cobalt blue blown-glass. Wally stared as Dick made a fist, opened it and small beams of light shot out of his fingertips. " _Whoa!_ That's- that's..."

"I'm a freak, right?" Dick's mouth had quirked to the side, a giveaway that he was struggling with his emotions.

"No way, dude," Wally assured him. " _That's_ _ **awesome!"**_

Dick's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Yeah. Does it...is it really glass or what?"

"It's denser than glass. I haven't been able to break it yet."

Wally's eyes goggled. "You tried to break your own arm?"

"Yeah. Kinda had to. So far nothing has worked."

"Cool. I guess I'd do the same thing. Is it superstrong?"

Robin smirked. "You could say that."

"No way. No WAY!" Wally whooped and jumped up on Dick's bed. "So Klarion was trying to take his revenge on you, but he only ended up turning you metahuman?"

Dick full-out grinned. "Won't he be burned when he finds out?"

"Yeah! I wish I could tell him myself!" Wally leapt off the bed. "So is it your whole arm?"

"Actually, that's the weird thing. At first, it was just my hand. But now, it's my whole arm."

Wally's jaw dropped. "You mean, it could still spread more?"

"That's what Batman thinks. But he's done a ton of tests and it doesn't seem to be harming me when I change back and forth. So as long as I can control it, he's okay with it."

"Yeah, that'll come in handy fighting the bad guys. Can I touch it?"

"Sure," Dick said easily, but he put out his hand with a bit of hesitation. "It feels a little weird."

Wally reached out and took Dick's hand. It felt cooler and smoother than a regular handshake. "Cool. Wanna arm wrestle?"

"Yeah!"

And that began the afternoon of trials for Robin's arm. It proved to be superstrong, beating Wally in all competitions and to be impervious to any damage from anything they tried on it.

"I don't even think a bullet could get through that arm!" Wally summed it up as they sat in the kitchen eating sandwiches and tomato soup provided by Alfred.

"Don't even think about trying it, Master Wally," Alfred said crisply as he tidied the kitchen. "Let's leave those kinds of trials for Batman, shall we?"

"Sh' fwee,'" Wally reassured him.

"Would you care to repeat that?"

"He said, 'Sure thing,'" Dick translated. He was glad he had confided in Wally. Now he wanted to tell the whole Team.

It wasn't hard to imagine him at some point fighting beside the Team with one bared, blue arm that could take all the hits and smash every opponent. He would definitely need a new name and a new uniform. Maybe black and blue this time.

But for now, he would be happy to get back to being Robin, the sidekick of Batman and a member of the Young Justice team. After all that he'd almost lost, that would be enough.

* * *

A/N: Thanks so much for reading, guys. I've been a nervous wreck about this chapter. I hope you liked it!

2nd A/N: Thanks to Black Friar for the inspiration to write a Team Derailed Story!


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